Cop charged in shooting incident of Egypt Christian

Cairo, Jan 14 (Agencies): Egypt's prosecutor general charged an off-duty policeman in the killing of a Christian man on a train this week and referred the case to trial.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement that Amer Ashour Abdel-Zaher faces several charges, the most serious of which is premeditated murder.

He could face the death sentence, if convicted.

The 23-year-old Abdel-Zaher was off-duty when he boarded a Cairo-bound train in the town of Samalout in southern Egypt on Tuesday and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding his wife and four others.

The attack, less than two weeks after the suicide bombing of a church killed 21, sparked new demonstrations by enraged Christians who pelted police with stones in southern Egypt.